as per the caption for this photo the aircraft departed New Zealand for the last time 06 June this year and arrived same evening at Roswell ( via LAX ) - have not heard any update on the scrapping process , so no idea whether it has started ( or maybe even finished !)

I think the plan was for all the 744s to leave by the end of 2012 ( the 77Ws start arriving next year , the first one is due around October IIRC ) . Whether the ongoing delays with the 787-9s will affect this I dont know .

I think that they are mostly used these days on the AKL-LAX and AKL-LAX-LHR flights , and some of the AKL-YVR flights . Not sure if they are still used on some of the transTasman routes in between longhauls .

sadly I think that is a long way off . As the launch customer for the 787-9 NZ were talking about AKL-GRU as one possible route , but I guess the 787s are not going to arrive until at least the end of 2013 so any service would not happen soon . Then there is also the question as to whether EROPS restrictions will apply . I would love to see a *A link from New Zealand to South America but I am not going to hold my breath waiting ( perhaps JJ could use the A340-500 to operate GRU-AKL-SYD eventually once they have been freed up from other routes )

Quoting Kiwiandrew (Reply 7):Then there is also the question as to whether EROPS restrictions will apply

I believe you are referring to the soon to be adopted EDTO standard. As I understand the Australian version which the N.Z. one is expected to be the same, there should be no difficulty in this respect. Ultimately it will be up to the airline's comfort level and their ability to satisfy the regulator. If the 789 comes out of the blocks at 330mins. it should not be an issue. No doubt Boeing will be striving for this.

Quoting Kiwiandrew (Reply 4):I think that they are mostly used these days on the AKL-LAX and AKL-LAX-LHR flights , and some of the AKL-YVR flights . Not sure if they are still used on some of the transTasman routes in between longhauls .

They definitely fly them trans Tasman, but they currently only fly them 2x to 3x weekly from AKL-BNE-AKL, depending on the time of year. I've booked myself onto one of the 744 flights from BNE-AKL at the end of January, and it's only 3 hours block time.

I flew NZ from LAX-AKL-LAX a few months ago. On the way down under I flew the 777. On the way back I caught the 744. I gotta tell ya....the 744 in coach was much more comfortable, even though the 777 was half-empty and the 774 was completely full. Shame to see the 744s go.

When the 77Ws are released, there'll be a new product to go along with it and it's set to revolutionise economy travel. Nothing else has been said about it but come the end of next year, we'll all know.

Quoting Canyonblue17 (Reply 18):I flew NZ from LAX-AKL-LAX a few months ago. On the way down under I flew the 777. On the way back I caught the 744. I gotta tell ya....the 744 in coach was much more comfortable, even though the 777 was half-empty and the 774 was completely full. Shame to see the 744s go.

Well they have not officially announced the retirement of the B 747-400 fleet. They have just retired ZK-NBS and that's it. Hope they will order some B 747-8 or even the A 380.

I wouldn't be too sure of that. I'd expect to see them retired as 77Ws start arriving next year on a one for one basis. Mind you, there are seven 744s left in the fleet, and only five 77Ws on firm order (2 on option).Whether the options are taken up will to a large extent depend on how the economic slowdown is affecting things in the longer term, I suspect.

There's a potential need of probably 5, up to 8 frames. 3 for AKL-LAX-LHR and 2 for either another AKL-LAX or AKL-YVR, there's a lot of potential for AKL-YVR since NZ can connect people out of AKL into many secondary cities in Australia. As for South American flights, IMO only NZ will be able to launch dedicated nonstop from AKL because it can offer connections to Australia and Asia, unlike JJ, AR or LA, where their only sensible option is SYD.

edit: I know AR and LA offer AKL-SYD, but should QF increase frequencies to EZE, other South American carriers will have to go nonstop to SYD.

It was discussed in NZ thread that the AKL-SYD flight in the morning sometimes goes even further down to A320, OTOH, MEL and BNE get 744 and 777, Given the option of LAX-SYD flights, no one wants to fly to SYD through AKL unless NZ offers rock bottom fare, something NZ definitely doesn't want to do.